#quick recap. blog's first theme:

[cepheusgalaxy]

so what do you guys prefer

i have three sets so far and dont wanna decide

*def not gonna keep the banner

**not sure about the banner. might put the aroace flag there.

#id in alt text #update #my polls #btw tell me if any of them hurt your eyes and i'll tone them down #you might've noticed i changed the theme hehe #got tired of the pink and blue one #quick recap. blog's first theme: #default orange and blue #second theme: the light blue fluffy cat one #third theme: white and red i think #fourth theme: red #fifth theme?: yellow and purple if i remember well #sixth theme: previous blue and pink #wow #for a guy who's been here for around a year i sure change colors a lot #edit: hahaha forgot to put a proper name in the poll lmao #....and to add an option for me to see the results #oh well #polls #tumblr theme #colors #help

[ladyofthewolfsbane]

They’re Made of Meat: How the Texas Chain Saw Massacre Forces Us to Confront the Horrors of Slaughter

This will be an analysis focusing on my interpretation of TCM and how it criticizes the meat industry. 

11/8/23 note: I originally posted this on my old horror blog. Since I privated my old blog, I wanted to post this here.

Disclaimer:

Three things before we start. First, given the nature of this analysis, I will describe the deaths of animals (as well as their mistreatment) and the fictional deaths of humans. I will use some images of animals in making my argument, but I’m not using images of dead animals.

Second, I am a vegetarian for ethical reasons, so my perspective will be undeniably biased. If me just mentioning that bothers you, this might not be the analysis for you.

Third, I’m not saying all of these things were intentional on the director’s part. This is simply my interpretation of the movie.

All that said, let’s begin.

You enter a dim room, and something feels … wrong. You have spent the last several hours in a hot metal vehicle, cramped with your companions. Now that you’ve left the vehicle, you’d hoped that this new place would provide some help and relief.

But this new place is dark and smells of decay.

You hear a sound and call for your friend. You come forward and walk up a ramp towards a strange room, and —

A hulking figure appears from nowhere and strikes your skull. You collapse, your feet flailing and clattering against the metal ramp. The hit downed you, but you still remain conscious. It takes two more strikes before you lose consciousness.

What I just described is the death scene of Kirk from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.

What I just described is also the hypothetical destruction of a cow that entered a slaughterhouse and was improperly stunned with a captive bolt gun and who had to be stunned twice before being rendered insensible.

The Texas Chain Saw Massacre criticizes the meat industry by performing the very same trick I just played — by forcing the characters and the audience into the perspective of livestock. It accomplishes this by putting the characters in the position of animals sent to slaughter when each character encounters the Sawyer family.

Themes of slaughter and the meat industry enter the movie early on. Within the first 10 minutes of the movie, the characters pass cattle awaiting slaughter. At least one of the animals is clearly suffering — the audience is given a quick shot of a cow panting and frothing in the unforgiving summer heat.

Franklin then begins to describe how cattle were previously slaughtered with a sledgehammer, but a captive bolt gun is now used to stun them prior to bleeding. During his description, the ethics of meat is explicitly questioned.

Pam says, "People shouldn’t use animals for meat." From the beginning, Pam is essentially setting up the thesis of the movie — animals suffer for meat consumption, and we shouldn’t do it. She has heard the information and come to a conclusion.

However, Sally simply wants to look away. She says, "Franklin, I like meat, please change the subject."

Sally does not want to confront the reality of where meat comes from and what animals go through to provide her the meat she enjoys. Ironically, she will eventually be almost put through the slaughter process that she originally refused to confront.

Soon, the protagonists pick up the first member of the Sawyer family — the Hitchhiker. (Note: I know the family members are given names in TCM 2, but since I’m only talking about the first movie, I won’t use those names here.)

The confrontation of meat production continues as the Hitchhiker describes how his family has historically worked in the meat industry.

These two scenes being set at the beginning of the movie and the detail they go into about cattle slaughter frame the movie as a criticism of meat production.

Now, I’ll go into specific scenes. It won’t be a blow by blow recap of the movie, though I will go in order of events.

The first to be killed is Kirk. Kirk’s death closely parallels that of the slaughter of cattle. He enters an unknown area and travels up a metal ramp, not knowing what fate awaits him. His death occurs with little warning and is performed dispassionately. As mentioned at the beginning, his legs flail and kick before he dies, similar to cattle struggling during improper stunning in undercover slaughterhouse footage.

Leatherface’s weapon is even a sledgehammer — previously used in slaughtering cattle, as discussed at length by Franklin and the Hitchhiker.

Additionally, the sliding metal door that Leatherface slams is similar to the sliding metal door of a knock box that cattle are herded into so that they can be stunned.

Indeed, the entrance to Leatherface’s room is even surrounded by what appears to be cattle hides.

Soon after Kirk’s death, Pam comes to find him. She stumbles into a room covered in chicken feathers and filth. The floor closely resembles the living conditions that broiler chickens are forced to deal with inside factory farms. They are packed closely together and stand in layers of feathers and their own filth. In that room, there is even a chicken held in a small cage, perhaps paralleling the tiny battery cages factory farmed chickens have been kept in.

When Leatherface finds her, he treats her just as dispassionately as Kirk, and he hangs her on a meat hook like a side of beef.

Now, I think it’s time to discuss the Sawyers a bit more. The Sawyer family treats the protagonists in the same way that they would treat any non-human animal. In the Sawyer’s minds, it makes sense. Humans are, just like any animal, made of meat. To them, there is nothing that makes a human different from a cow.

While the movie primarily focuses on the plight of the "livestock," there is also some focus on how the meat industry is toxic to the workers as well.

In one scene after Jerry has also been killed, Leatherface is visibly in distress. People have been coming to his home in quick succession, and he feels he has had to kill them.

Slaughterhouse workers are often pressured to increase speed on the line, resulting in stress for the workers and lowered welfare standards for the animals they kill. According to the article Meatpacking: A Closer Look Inside a Secretive and Dangerous Industry, slaughterhouse workers are at a high risk for anxiety and PTSD. 

Later, Leatherface is berated and threatened by the Cook because the Cook believes he has performed below the standards expected of him. This parallels the pressure and mistreatment slaughterhouse workers may face from supervisors. 

"Some said their supervisors screamed and humiliated them to keep up production speed," Meatpacking: A Closer Look Inside a Secretive and Dangerous Industry said.

Returning to the protagonists, there are many striking scenes with Sally. Of all the characters, her experiences put the audience most directly and vividly in the position of an animal meant for slaughter.

The most disturbing parallels begin after she has escaped the Sawyer house for the first time. In this section of the movie, she goes to the gas station and briefly thinks that she is safe. Of course, she isn’t. 

The Cook recaptures her and proceeds to treat her like an animal, such as prodding her and beating her with a broom to get her to go where he wants.  Slaughterhouse workers have been caught on undercover footage similarly beating pigs with paddles and sticks and using electric prods to herd them. 

Then there is the infamous dinner scene. Sally is tied to a chair, staring in terror and screaming while the family mimic her cries and laugh at her. Her screams of distress mean no more to them than the bellowing of a cow or the squealing of a pig. In fact, there are even the sounds of pigs squealing and grunting in the background while she screams. Intermingling her sounds of distress with the cries of animals cements that they have become one in the same in this scenario. 

There is a lot of undercover slaughterhouse footage that captures workers mocking and taunting the animals that are clearly in distress, paralleling the Sawyer’s mockery of Sally. 

This mockery and verbal abuse in the meat industry likely comes from what I mentioned earlier — the need of slaughterhouse workers to disassociate to do their jobs. This causes them to see animals as objects to take their frustration out on rather than living things that can suffer.

"The worst thing, worse than the physical danger, is the emotional toll," said a former slaughterhouse employee in Slaughterhouse: The Shocking Story of Greed, Neglect, and Inhumane Treatment Inside the U.S. Meat Industry. "Pigs down on the kill floor have come up to nuzzle me like a puppy. Two minutes later I had to kill them. … I can’t care."

There are moments when the Cook seems to have twinges of regret about what they’re doing, saying he takes no pleasure in killing, that they shouldn’t torture her.

But he believes the killing is necessary. He has to shut down his sympathy for Sally. Just like the former slaughterhouse worker quoted above, he can’t care.

Eventually, the Sawyers decide to allow Grandpa to kill Sally. They lean her over a bucket and hand him a sledgehammer, again using the same method to kill her as they would to kill an animal. All the while she screams and cries and the verbal abuse continues.

 The Hitchhiker uses misogynistic terms to refer to her, similar to workers using such terms for female animals trying to escape their fate.

And Sally does manage to escape her fate. 

I doubt this was intentional, but there is a striking parallel between her escape and the rare cases of cattle escaping from slaughter. She smashes through a window and runs for her life in any direction she can and ends up on a road where chaos ensues. 

There are cases of cattle escaping slaughter by breaking through a fence and running the streets, which causes similar confusion and chaos to Sally’s escape. A notable example are the "St. Louis Six," who were six cows that escaped slaughter and were later taken to a sanctuary. 

Sally, too, is helped by kind strangers. One of the most notable strangers who helps her is a cattle truck driver that throws a wrench at Leatherface. While his job is to transport cattle to slaughter, he has unknowingly saved a woman who has escaped the same fate as the cattle he transports. 

At the end of the film, Sally escapes in the back of a truck, covered in blood and laughing. 

At the beginning of the film, she said, "Franklin, I like meat, please change the subject."

By the end, Sally could no longer look away. She could no longer ignore reality of the meat industry, for she had been dragged to a slaughterhouse herself, now no different than the meat she enjoyed. And the audience, too, is forced to witness the terror of the slaughterhouse through Sally’s eyes.

#the texas chain saw massacre #the texas chainsaw massacre #the texas chainsaw massacre 1974 #sally hardesty #leatherface #bubba sawyer

[voiddoesntexist]

hi again !! ★

this week was fun i think :)

i feel like a lot has happened since the last blog, even though it was in the same week !! the week was technically shorter since i didn't have to go to school on tuesday, which was amazing, though i got bored a little quick (and then posted !). i really liked really everything i wore this week, obviously not including tuesday. i'm getting back into himekaji !! which is great !! i missed it SO much and honestly it's probably the substyle that fits me the most, it's just that i can't do it often since i dont have a lot of clothes for it :(

since tuesday, its been eventful though !! on wednesday, i got to see lion king on broadway, which was just beautiful. the only part i disliked about it was the audience. a few people were laughing at rafiki speaking xhosa which just put a bad taste in my mouth. thursday, my parents and a few more decided to watch the first black panther together, just to recap for the second one. saturday, i got to go to the mall and to the hello kitty cafe with my qpps (look that up) and it was so fun <33 i missed them so much and they make me super happy. i had to leave early though so i could see black panther 2 with my family !! i almost cried like 5 times but i couldn't since i had makeup on >_< and today i'll just chill and do my homework.

moving onto co*des !! >:) this week was a really good mix of substyles <3 on monday, i wore this super cute himekaji co*de. i wore a cute hoodie over a blouse and matched a plaid skirt with it ! i also used some bows i wore for homecoming. wednesday, i wore a skeleton themed rokku co*de with a purple plaid skirt and my favorite black furry legwarmers. thursday, another himekaji co*de (woo hoo !) with a long sleeved blouse, a pink cardigan, and this checked bunny skirt i got !! i feel like i don't wear it enough. gal friday, i don't think my co*de fit into a specific substyle but i still loved it ! it was a long sleeved pink hello kitty crop top, jean shorts, and my black legwarmers again. saturday i had two co*des ! the first one was kuromi themed for the hello kitty truck, and the second was this dressy look with a kente jacket for black panther !

i have no choice but to reveal all my co*des since i loved them all so much, so here's the six that i wore that week !! i hope you all enjoy them all and i'll see you next time andddd i love you !! <3

#black gyaru #gyaru #gyaru fashion #gyaru gal #gyaru makeup #gyarustyle #gaijin gyaru #gyal #jfashion #rokku gyaru #rokku #himekaji #himekaji gyaru #egg magazine #alba rosa #gyaru blog #liz lisa

[ericleo108]

CosmicLuve.com August 2023 - Orange

Necessary prerequisite posts:

Cosmic Luve August 2023 - Orange

108 The Story of Discovering Earth’s Consciousness (book)

Sentientism 2022

Cosmic Love 2021 - Selena Gomez

Cosmic Love April 2022: Cary Charlotte or Mary

Cosmic Luve July 2023 - The Main Thing

Intro

This entry is coming on the heels of a pivotal post. To oversimplify, my book “108 The Story of Discovering Earth’s Consciousness” is a nonfiction autobiographical short story and philosophical breakdown of the evidence and reasoning as to why I think some planets and stars are conscious. I break down how the earth could be communicating in this blog on the Sentientism post(s) which is more about the belief and speculation about how Gaia could be communicating.

The basic theory is Gaia/Earth uses environmental semantics with telepathic randonauting and points of realization to highlight cognition to affect behavior. It’s my experience that Gaia does this through friends, good people, and especially romantic prospects to reach individuals internally with the feeling of love. This series catalogs the semantics I think Gaia is using by having entities/cosmic luves reflect my work and artistry. My main cosmic luves are Emma Watson, Taylor Swift, Hailee Seinfeld, and the main one we’ll talk about in this post is Selena Gomez.

As you can see from reading the past entries, I don’t make these up, the coincidences just come to me. I basically see semantic tropes and try to catalog and interpret them. With this one more than most, it’s obvious it’s external. I’m not making this stuff up, how could I?  The only question is, is this just all coincidence or is it the best form of communication to the planetary entity we have right now?

Where we left off

Expanding upon last months July 2023 - The Main Thing post (and tweet with pictures). It’s worth mentioning that I was wrong about the otters thing. I’m sure somewhere I made a comment about how I like otters. Basically, I always think Gaia is using Emma Watson as a vessel strategically because the reflection to my life is so stark but would normally come by referencing things the public wouldn’t know about, hence it couldn’t be human and intentional. This time if Emma did a little search on my profile she could of intentionally picked horses and otters to “love me without possession” and reflect my sun poem, in her orange poem, which the color orange also highlights today’s theme.

The only real reflection that Emma would have to know me personally for, for her to be purposefully reflecting me would be kayaking. I didn’t say anything online about getting on the River. Otherwise, everything else you could probably find about me somewhere online. So hi Emma, if you’re here, I would love to know your perspective on this and take you on a date. But a better example of how I think Gaia uses semantics through vessels to communicate is Selena in this months cosmic luve because it involves multiple characters over a couple weeks.

Also leaving off from last post and the whole Jesus is based on the myth of the sun thing is I basically want Christians to realize is they worship the sun. I do too, i just think they do it wrong. First of all, I took a poll on X asking if people would straight up worship the sun and they voted they find it stupid. 

But my point is Jesus is based on the myth of the sun, so like a lot of people worship the sun and don’t realize it. But it’s my experience and reasoning with Sentientism that the sun would want you to worship him in action developed through training your mind and intellect to better yourself and others. It’s like what JFK said, on earth, God’s work is truly our own. 

“With a good conscience our only sure reward, with history the final judge of our deeds, let us go forth to lead the land we love, asking His blessing and His help, but knowing that here on earth God's work must truly be our own.” - JFK

So a quick recap. Although you think it’s stupid, you still worship the sun in a roundabout way. And to be clear, you think it’s good to worship Jesus and the sun is stupid to regard as a god whereas I think it’s stupid to worship Jesus and worship the sun (and Gaia) through action/behavior whic I think are like gods.

It’s just like how people pray to god. If you read 108 you’ll see why I think the planet is telepathic. Given these circumstances, planet Earth, the god Gaia, would be able to hear your prayers. This goes even further with the thought that god works in mysterious ways… because she would have to. Gaia would hear your prayer and even if she would want to help (which is in question if she would) she would be limited by her physical capability. She has no arms or eyes, her power is magnetism. The way I describe in these posts how I think Gaia infiltrates people's minds to help bring about progress is how she would answer your prayers. Remember I think these individuals are being manipulated by the planet's telepathic abilities that I talk about in my book “108.”

New coincidences

It all started when I noticed a trope progressing. First, I heard about how Swiss Beats made fun of his wife Alicia Keys for ordering carrots in the club. Then, immediately after on Instagram, I saw a new Conor Price video where he was playfully using a carrot as a flute to promote one of his songs. Next, I saw Selena in an orange dress. I made a tweet about it.  Then I talked about it in my longform Youtube sunday update on August 13 2023. I was like “Selena is now my carrot.” Then on August 17 I open up instagram to find Selena in her orange dress on her profile picture and a post promoting her new song “Single soon.”

In the same way this developed, how Selena became my carrot, is how Emma and the semantic anchor to a cat developed that I talk about in my book “108,” but only Emma’s cat association was much more pervasive and consistent. Carrots are a root vegetable and basically live in Gaia’s blood/body/dirt

Then on August 18th I uploaded “Our Love” for distribution. This is a song I wrote for a competition to get the guitarist RJ Pasin, who made the beats sample, on the official feature. The competition must have ended early but I still wanted to release the song while the sample was hot. The song is not personal. I basically wrote the hook first and then did everything else and at a certain point I decided to make it about breaking up and getting back together with your ex.

This is interesting because both of our songs came out on the 25th and Selena’s song is about breaking up with her boyfriend. Just another coincidence right…. It goes even deeper because her song seemed impromptu and came out a month after I released my single “Vulnerable” which is a response to Selena’s song by the same name.

Then I saw a Taco Bell advertisement on the 27th about how you could get a free Doritos locos taco from Taco Bell on “taco Tuesdays” in August. It’s important to understand the story, I basically had a depressing birthday. I did nothing and could not afford to treat myself. I talk about it in my August 27 2023 Sunday update.

I thought the orange semantics ended with the carrot and the dress but follow me here. My birthday falls on Tuesday, August 22nd this month. I actually went searching for free stuff on my birthday because I’m so broke but I couldn’t find anything.  I didn’t know about the free taco that I could actually get on my birthday because of the promotion until after my birthday. Then, most coincidentally, I came to realize locos are orange. I went in and got a free one on the 29th.  I took a picture of it, but it looks way more orange in person. 

Like I said, I’ve been kind of depressed so it felt like a sad birthday. But then on the 26th I celebrated my birthday with my mom and she gave me a ps5 and I think it’s exactly what I need. She gave me a little spending money and made sure I had a good birthday.

I’ll be set on releases until 2024 in September. I should make music videos but they’re expensive. I’m still gonna try but honestly, I think what I need is time and to relax. Especially my Spotify is growing. I probably get about $50 from cdbaby every month which has been helping. The ryini beats team has been a good professional resource still.

It’s worth mentioning, I was also made aware of, through a tiktok this month, that the US quietly rejected the right to food at a UN vote recently. On November 9, 2021, nations in the UN voted on whether or not food is a human right. Over 180 countries participated in the vote, with an overwhelming majority voting in favor of food as a human right. America was the only country who voted “no.” (google search)

It’s almost as if Gaia brought it up to be in context. I feel like she’s really disappointed in the United States. If the voice in my head that claims to be Gaia has anything to say about it is “This is my land, this is my food, it belongs to me, it is me, and I decree it is for all life on this planet. And food is a right for all people.”

To further relate the coincidences Taco Bell’s solan is Live mas,  and Selena’s music video for “Single Soon” has the same feel as a sexy Taco Bell commercial. It’s almost as if Gaia was like, look over here in the orange, I got you a song, a taco, and something for your purpose, baby calm down, happy birthday. So basically I feel like Gaia got me a song and a taco for my birthday

Keeping with the last post’s side quests about how when one door closes, another opens. Music closed for me basically (until the end of the year at least), and opened up an avenue to just live more/mas instead of work through playing my PS5. I’m still waiting for the door to open that was closed from not being able to go to Western for my master's in sociology. I’m actually hoping that door will be finding representation from a sync music boutique for my music that I have been trying to find for a couple of weeks now.

#rap #rapper #love #hiphop #new music #emma watson #selena gomez #selena marie gomez #Youtube

[vvyaspitofhell]

First actual post and keeping this like a progress journal format!

Game Progress:

Main Menu

Getting the Main Menu done was pretty easy with Renpys default code.

Using this video :

It really helped with customization.

But I plan to kick it up a notch and make the menu have a gif background! I want it to be more lively... the idea is that each game will show the characters you're experiencing the story with on screen.

In this case it will be Victor and Kojo.

But for now I want to get the base game stuff in order.

Custom Gui

I will add more to this but the GUI part have been a real trial and error cause I got too carried away and hoped into making art without thinking of how those assets could be reused. DONT BE LIKE ME.

Please map out the ideas of your color palletes, custom frames , menu backgrounds etc.

And please use a grid. Coding placement has me relearning x and y asis plus mental bs-ing while flipping between Clip and Booting up the code again.

Below is the Frame for Notification, the dialog box and and skip box. I personally like having them be super similar to keep the theming but I've seen others play around with them too.

Notes

And this is advice for EVERYTHING when typing the code but please please please use Notes , fellas.

Make sure to keep them brief. I tend to use them for reminding myself the exact moment a cg , sprite or animation should be used or like a "save point.

This is also good cause you really could overwhelmed yourself with a new cg for evey secne.

If I ever remaster the game I want to be able to use gif backgrounds some time, like ones with just a bit of light effects.

I have an idea of the style of music / sfx I want to use but for now the game is silent. So if I do end up never using music at all I want the best to atleast have a nice extra feel to them.

Pacing

A story board or flow chart is good to get the geenral idea of the pacing before , during and or after the dialogue/scene script is done. I've done both. Its been really helpful in cutting down on excess story, reusing assets and having you preplan your renpy files with necessary sections. Trust when I say coding can get uber messy and a clean code is such a breath of fresh air.

Below snippets of my Storyboard, flowchart and Google doc

Below Image of a professional doing his script folder sections. I think he divided it by chapter and special scenes? I have to find the og video.

One of my besties reads out the story outloud ( highly recommend) and my literature bestie is my editor. Both have seen the old flow charts/story boards , so its made the editing easier since the charts are a good "quick general recap" . They've also suggested way to tighten things or tell me to drop an unnecessary"path/storybeat"

My most up to date on is the Google docs (the tick box list) . I will miss my old story board, but some things have to go....this out of context part tho survived the GREAT EDIT.

So that's if for now! I started this progress last year around August/September and dedicated every Wednesday to be a Dev day, so I might try to make those nights/Thursdays when I update this blog on that stuff.

#visual novel development #renpy game #renpy visual novel #youtube #dating sim #c.m.t.p dev #ramblings

[homenecromancer]

quick reviews of some books i read recently:

Finna by Nino Cipri: fun lightweight read about two people, who just broke up with each other, on a quest through alternate-universe versions of a big-box store that is definitely not Ikea. enjoyable. (also if you’re sick of het romance good news: the main characters are queer)

the Newsflesh trilogy by Mira Grant: it is a very disarming feeling to read books written in your lifetime and realize they’ve accidentally become period pieces -- so, if you want to read some books that encapsulate some 2000s ideas and don’t realize they are doing it, here you go: yes, there was once a time when some people thought Blogging was the wave of the future and would be both influential and dignified. the books are about a world that’s experienced the zombie apocalypse, but the main characters are... professional bloggers about it. anyway. the actual books are fairly light reads; there is a foreshadowed twist in the third book that some readers will hate (the main characters are in love with each other... even though they’re adopted siblings)

The Unspoken Name by A. K. Larkwood: for me this was a solid C -- some parts were a real slog, some were alright. this is a world-hopping fantasy novel about a young orc priestess who is rescued from her fated death by a magician who needs some help to regain his rightful throne. which he does, and then the other 2/3 of the book happens. i think my main problem was that it felt like there was something off about the pacing... also you spend the first third of the book getting to know the magician character in a way that made me think he was gonna, like, be present in the other 2/3 of the book, and not just in the background. some fun worldbuilding, but i will not lie, i was relieved to get to the end and not too interested in the sequel.

Tell Me I’m Worthless by Alison Rumfitt: this is a horror novel about a haunted house, and Rumfitt does not flinch from attacking distressing topics. there’s a content warning in the front, and should you decide to give this book a try, i highly recommend reading that content warning before you go any further. i thought this book was solidly okay until the epilogue, which very satisfyingly ties things up and boosted my opinion to “yes, i would recommend this book to horror fans”. anyway. the back-cover summary you can find by googling is pretty accurate so i won’t recap it for you. trans identity is a very strong theme, so i will highlight: if you find reading about transphobia uncomfortable, do not read this book. Rumfitt handles it excellently, honestly, and from different points-of-view -- one main character is a trans woman; one main character is involved in anti-trans political activities -- but that also means some readers may find this book too distressing to read. fair warning. another thing i will highlight: this book is set in the UK, so some details do not hit quite as hard for me as they might for readers from the UK (there are, for instance, masked references to pop-culture figures that other readers may find obvious, but went over my head). here is a brief excerpt:

Bigotry can sit inside of you, hardening, turning into something painful before you even realise it is there. If you attend the meeting of a fascist political group, for example, you were not made fascist by that group, you were already a fascist, but one who did not have an outlet. Radicalisation is a complicated thing. I think often what it actually does is simply nurture an idea that was already there, inside of you.

#books i read

[lilolilyr]

Booping April Fools Recap!

I had a blast y'all's, it was so much fun!

Booped and was booped over 4k times apparently :D

I love those kind of Tumblr events, whether planned like this April fools or just a sudden ever given or nov5 or Goncharov xD the vibes are always immaculate and the community is lovely <3

my notes are through the roof!

I got 14 new followers and I still have to check some of them for whether they are bots or followed me by accident or whether I just want to soft block them xD but some have already been established as fellow booping human beings or even mutuals, hi there @katharinaste @nbie @sharkbatez @theothergaycousin @anoddsightcomeoutatnight @songstar1 @raindropsandteaandtears @citricchatter @whiskeyadams @thatofabeavers @gunsandcherries and welcome to my blog, now go reblog some stuff or I might rethink that soft block xD, and let me know if you'd rather I didn't tag you in stuff, because I do tag memes like a lot (feel free to go through the backlog and feel tagged in all that you wanna do)

Anyway, so then I reached the 1k 'max' for booping others within like 3h after waking up xD and am a proud holder of the black booping paw badge!

After I had maxed out my received boops as well, I made a poll about which fandom I should make a meme for in thanks

(Ignore that @toboldlynerd's url half ended up on a poll option xD I don't even know whether that was my own dumbassery or a glitch, there were a lot of glitches going around on here yesterday but it might have also been me typing too quick not seeing which line I was on)

...after a very equal distribution with twilight in the lead, at first W13 was in the lead and I wrote a little fanfic soon after which I hit post limit *cries*

But I kept booping!

And because @lavendelhummel wrote a comment on Ao3 saying she'd love booping kudos, I made that as well :D only posted today of course bc postlimitttt

Also there's an Ao3 boop theme and discord boop reaction emojis (which I have instantly added to the servers I'm mod of xD), badge pngs and gifs :D

While on post limit I had a Lot of time on my hands going on tumblr web just booping instead of reblogging, and I figured out the super boop and even how to super boop myself on web

Though tumblr then complains about booping laundering xD

I tried to see whether there's another gimmick boop thing like the super boop but didn't work anything out - then this morning, I see this!

🖤Evil boop

I really want to know how this works now! @eyescastlow did you do it on purpose? How? How'd you figure it out? I am in awe of the evil boop :D

On web you can reach even higher heights than the Max, I was online for ages, only left for like an hour each going for a walk when my hands started to hurt & for dinner xD

In the poll Good Omens, Star Trek and LotR were (and still are) in the lead but because of post limit I couldn't make anything immediately and my best trek idea (tribble boops) had already been made anyway o.o so instead today i made meme comp link lists for each fandom!

Yesterday I told myself I'd go to sleep after hitting the next boop stat, expecting that if I managed to max out at 1k in 3h or less I should make it to the next booping k that evening, but instead I got more boops quicker than I was booping!

🖤 It was a pleasure booping with you all! 🖤

#my boop #boop de snoot #01.04.24 #02.04.24 #blog #lilolilyr #boop o meter #my post #mine #x #apr'24 #post limit #me #nbie #katharinaste #mutuals

[rubydolly]

HIGHLIGHTS AND MAIN MEMORIES OF 2023 FOR ME

2023 had many memorable times for me, some great and some not so great but all together they are what made my year the year it was. How was 2023 for you? I recommend copying this format and making a post about 2023 for you.

JANUARY

Lost My Father I am actually struggling to put this devastating experience into words, however I feel like it needs to be acknowledged as it was such a major thing that happened this year. I will not disclose what happened as that is private information that I do not wish to share, however I will say that I love and miss my Father every single day and the pain a year later is still so raw. R.I.P. Dad <3

FEBRUARY

Fitness Photoshoot James, the photographer who I also worked with last year, called me back to do another photoshoot. The theme of this photoshoot was fitness which required a natural, dewy look. The poor model had so much olive oil on her body to create that "sweaty" look.

Mardi Gras I got in contact with my Makeup Teacher from back when I did the Diploma Of Screen And Media, Cherine and she invited me to come along with her to a job she had for Mardi Gras. The staff members of the Marriott hotel, were going to be on a float and needed their makeup done, they were representing W Hotels, the luxury hotel chain owned by Marriott International.

MARCH

Joseph & The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat Last year my mum bought me tickets to see Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat at the Capital Theatre. The show was absolutely amazing and I defiantly recommend seeing it, if it is coming to your state.

Sunderella I had the amazing opportunity to work as an Assistant Makeup Artist to Geeta on the set of Sunderella. Sunderella is a bollywood drag version of Cinderella, the show went for a 5 nights and was a huge success.

MAY

Photoshoot Another photoshoot I did with James. The model in the photoshoot is Jina Lim, she is such a beautiful and down to earth person and I am so grateful that I got the opportunity to work with her and her beautiful face.

Went To Singapore This was my first overseas trip since 2018, I was very excited to finally be leaving Australia again. I went with my Mum and my Boyfriend at the time Aaron. I already made a blog post about the trip earlier in the year, however to do a quick recap, my trip was amazing. Singapore is a very clean and beautiful country and so much fun!!!! the highlights of the trip for me were: - Gardens By The Bay - Seeing the amazing Cloud Forest and the floral fantasy and then returning at night to see the Garden Rhapsody show that takes place every night. - Mandai Wildlife Reserve - Two zoo's in one and easily the best zoos I have ever seen, the "Amazon River Cruise" ride in the River Safari is amazing, my favourite animals in both zoos were the Panda's. Jaguar, Western Gaboon Vipers, Horned Viper and Poison Dart Frogs. - Haji Lane - A fun, bright and vibrant little area that comes alive at night. It is also the location of the famous Sultan Mosque - Lau Pau Sat - The BEST!!! Meal I had in Singapore was at this famous hawker centre. I had chicken satay stick, haianaese chicken and rice and spicy tofu - Universal Studios - I don't feel I need to explain much here, had great fun at this amazing theme park, my favourite rides were Revenge Of The Mummy and the Jurassic Park Rapid Adventure.

Aaron And I Separated After five years together, Aaron and I both made the difficult decision to seperate. The split was totally amicable and there are absolutely no hard feelings between either of us, we just simply felt we had grown apart and it was time to move on. I wish Aaron all the best for his future and thank him for the good memories we made together over the time we were together.

JUNE

Bathurst My Cousin Cameron and his wife Anna, left to go to Ireland so before they did, myself and my family all met up and had a little farewell party for them at my Aunty's house in Bathurst. Since we were already in Bathurst, Mum and I decided to stay for a view days and have a little holiday. We ate our favourite restaurant The Church Bar and visited the amazing Abercrombie House. Of course I also stopped off at my favourite Ice Cream shop Annie's.

Alyssa's Wedding My Cousin Alyssa got married to her now Husband Josh, so myself and my family all went up to the Sunshine Coast for the wedding. It was such a beautiful and relaxed wedding, Alyssa was an absolutely beautiful bride, Josh was a gorgeous groom and their two little boys were the most adorable pageboys ever. They took their vows at the beautiful Coolum beach and the reception was held at Kawana Waters Hotel. The night before the wedding, we all went out for dinner at the local Surf Club and had a great night.

Love Bites I was given the opportunity to work as a Special Effects Makeup Artist on this very important film that highlights and brings awareness to domestic violence. The film is by Fabio Caprarelli but the New South Wales Police also had a hand in it, the film will be shown in schools all throughout New South Wales in 2024.

JULY

Barbie Movie I very much got all caught up in the Barbie craze that went around following the release of the movie. I went and saw the movie 3 times!!! I also went as Makeup Artist Barbie on Halloween and I am still not done with the craze yet, I even have a page on my Tumblr of every Barbie doll ever made from 1959 until now.

AUGUST

Diploma Of Beauty Therapy Nothing makes me happier than being able to work as a Makeup Artist, it is my true calling, however a I do Makeup for film and theatre, work can be very unpredictable, there is not always work. I decided this year I needed to find myself a small consistent job somewhere for when I don' t have makeup jobs on. I saw that TAFE was offering a fee free Diploma Of Beauty Therapy and I immediately enrolled myself into it. I have learnt nails, waxing and lash and brows and next year I will learn so much more and hopefully when I am done with the course I will get a job in a beauty salon.

South Coast My Mum's good friend Michele turned 50 and had a big party at her place. She lives in the South Coast so Mum and I decided to make a little weekend trip out of it and stopped in at Kiama on the way. Michele's party was amazing!!! the food was great, the music was great and we all had such fun. Her beautiful daughter Grace had an exchange student from Japan staying with her and her and I instantly bonded over Studio Ghibli and Japan in general, oh how I wish i could go back.

Maddy's Birthday I have been with Horizon Theatre since year 11 when I was sent by my school for work placement. The woman who runs the theatre, Maddy is the only Marionette Puppeteer in Australia!!! She is amazing, so amazing that she she and Horizon Theatre have won awards over in Romania and Russia, anyone who knows anything about puppetry and performing arts knows that this is HUGE!!! as puppetry and performing arts unlike in Australia is huge in these countries and throughout Eastern Europe. Maddy turned 70 this year and Shab, who is an Actress but also runs the theatre with Maddy organised a surprise party for her. She put on a performance called "Beauty" which I got to be a part of, and in the meantime people set up the party outside the theatre. Maddy got such a lovely surprise when she went outside at the end of the show.

SEPTEMBER

Singaportal Mum and I missed Singapore so much that we jumped at the opportunity to experience it again, albeit in Sydney. Klook hosted an event which basically brought Singapore to Sydney, one of the supertree groves from Singapore was actually flown out for the event, and there were stalls selling hawker style food, a pop up Raffles bar and live music. This event really took us both back to Singapore.

Oz Comic Con I attended my first Oz Comic Con this year with my good friend Izzy. I was originally planning to go as Wednesday, however with a trip to Uluru booked in for November, I needed to save money so I instead went as Broken Heart Harley in Birds Of Prey. We both had a great time, met some lovely people (I ran into my friend from TAFE Destiny and her family) and spent more money than we should have (so much for me saving money).

OCTOBER

Tarot Photoshoot James called me back to do another photoshoot. This photoshoot, was based on medieval tarot cards, and Alison was such a perfect model.

Dance Photoshoot Alison from the Tarot photoshoot, asked me to do a photoshoot for her. Alison is currently completing a Bachelor Of Dance at AMPA and is as part of her course has to put on a dance piece. The dance is called "Beauty's Beast" and she needed to do a photoshoot to promote the dance, James was the photographer and I did makeup for Alison and all of her dancers, it was such a great experience.

Halloween If you know me, You know how much I love Halloween, it made it into my Highlights And Memories list last year as well. This year I had four of my very good friends come over to my place and celebrate the spooky occasion with me. Everyone's costumes looked awesome and we had lots of fun, I went as Makeup Artist Barbie.

NOVEMBER

Uluru My Mum and I took a trip to my favourite state in Australia for my birthday, the Northern Territory. We stayed for a week at Ayer's Rock Resort and explored the magical Uluru and surrounds. Learning about the Anangu people and their culture was a wonderful experience I will never forget, as was walking around the base of Uluru and seeing Kata Tjuta change colours at sunset. I made a blog post about my trip which you can find here

DECEMEBER

Girls Weekend My good friend Izzy and I went to the Australian Museum to see the Ramses II exhibition and we decided to stay overnight in the city. The exhibition was amazing!!! this particular exhibition had never left Egypt until now. Izzy and I are both fascinated with ancient Egyptian history so this exhibition really ticked all the boxes for us. We stayed at the Pullman Hotel and that night we had dinner at Lotus in the Galleries. We spent the entire next day swimming in the hotel pool.

Bathurst Christmas Party Mum and I went up to Bathurst for our annual family Christmas party from my Dad's side of the family. We went up a day before the party and did our last minute Christmas shopping and chilled out by the hotel pool and I of course had an Annie's or two. For dinner we went to the Church Bar which does amazing wood fired pizzas. The family Christmas Party was the next day and it was great, it was so lovely to see all of my family and catch up, I also got some awesome presents, they know me so well, the two highlights were a replica skull of a West African Gaboon Viper. and an Emu Egg

Christmas Of course its a given that Christmas made this list, how could it not? This year my Mum and Grandparents spent the day together, I decorated the house and Mum cooked a lovely Christmas Lunch and we all sat and enjoyed lunch together. In the afternoon we went to my Aunty and Uncle's house, stayed there until night and ate lots of good food and caught up with lots of lovely family and friends.

[queen-street-news]

New Post has been published on https://bloornews.com/blog-toronto/theres-no-way-books-can-be-banned-in-canada-just-for-criticizing-trudeau-it-sounds-too-crazy/

There’s no way books can be banned in Canada just for criticizing Trudeau. It sounds too crazy

I’m here this morning at the Federal Court of Canada.

“Ezra Levant is a human rights activist, journalist and founder of Rebel News Network. He is the author of multiple best-selling books including Ethical Oil: The Case for Canada’s Oilsands, The Libranos: What the media won’t tell you about Justin Trudeau’s corruption, and most recently China Virus: How Justin Trudeau’s Pro-Communist Ideology Is Putting Canadians in Danger.”

For the next eight hours, Ezra Levant (Rebel News) will be on trial for writing a book called The Libranos.

There is an army of lawyers here from the Trudeau government. If they win, they will set a terrible precedent, making it illegal to publish books critical of politicians without first “registering” those books with the government.

Here’s a quick recap: In the 2019 Canadian election, there were 24 books published about Justin Trudeau.

23 of those books were pro-Trudeau or neutral. And then there was my book, “The Libranos: What the Media Won’t Tell You About Justin Trudeau’s Corruption”.

That enraged Trudeau — especially when it became a best seller. So Elections Canada assigned more than a dozen staff to investigate me and prosecute me. They’ve been hounding me for four years. They have already fined me thousands of dollars. And I’ve had to spend $100,000 in legal fees.

But I’ve appealed to the Federal Court. And today is the day that political freedom — and the right to criticize the government — lives or dies.

You might be thinking, “There’s no way books can be banned in Canada just for criticizing Trudeau. It sounds too crazy.”

Let me quote from an official notice I received from the “Manager of the Compliance Unit” of Elections Canada’s censorship branch:

the book title’s reference to “Librano$“, which was clearly designed to create an association between the name of a registered party and The Sopranos, a mafia-themed television show, and to link the party to corruption… drawings of the show’s characters were replaced with drawings of the leader and other public figures of the party.

Seriously. Trudeau’s staff are now deciding what words and even what pictures we can use to criticize Trudeau. He really meant it when he said China’s dictatorship is the country he most admires.

Speaking of which, Elections Canada hasn’t lifted a finger to stop Communist China from interfering in our elections. They’re too busy prosecuting my book.

You might recall that they specially hired two 30-year veterans of the RCMP to go after me — one of whom specialized in counter-terrorism.

Those senior cops interrogated me for an hour. I’ll never forget it: one of their most bizarre questions was to ask me why I didn’t register my book with the government before I published it. I secretly recorded that interrogation — you can watch it here if you haven’t seen it before.

Here’s their theory: they claim that because my book criticized Trudeau, it was campaign propaganda and had to be registered with the government. Even though Canada’s election laws specifically exempt books and the promotion of books. But Trudeau doesn’t care — he is trying to censor the Internet, so obviously he wouldn’t hesitate to censor an old-fashioned book.

I note that not a single journalism organization or civil liberties group has said a word to support me. Amnesty International, PEN Canada, the Canadian Association of Journalists, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and the Canadian Civil Liberties Association — not one of them has even issued a statement, let alone intervened in court. They don’t believe in freedom anymore — but I do.

https://www.thelibranos.com/

[ailuronymy]

Thoughts on the new discourse? Warrior cats naming conventions and rank names being straight up stolen from native American people? So many people seem to be... Straight up leaving the Fandom or changing all of their fan content and it feels very performative and, people not actually thinking critically and just being scared of getting "cancelled"? I feel like your opinions on these matters are very informed and well written so I wanted to ask given that this blog main theme is, well, warrior cat naming system and that seems to be the main issue of the new discourse.

This is probably going to get long, since there's sort of a lot to say about it in order to talk about this whole thing fairly and constructively, because from what I’ve seen there’s a lot of hyperbole happening, and panicking, and disavowing this series and fandom, and so on, like you say, and also some people genuinely trying to have complex meaningful conversations about racism in xenofiction, and also probably some bad faith actors in the mix--as well as some just... stupid actors. Kind of inevitably what happens when two equally bad platforms for having nuanced discussions--i.e., twitter and tumblr--run headlong into each other, in a fandom space with a majority demographic of basically kids and highly anxious, pretty online teens. I don’t mean that as a criticism of fans or their desire to be liked by peers and “correct” about opinions, it’s just the social landscape of Warriors and I think it’s worth pointing out from the start.  

If I’m totally honest with you, if not for this ask, I wouldn’t actually be commenting on it at all, because none of this is going to impact this blog or change how I run it in any way. But since you’ve asked and frankly I do feel some responsibility to try to disentangle things a little for everyone stressed and confused at the moment, because I know a lot of people look to this blog for guidance of all sorts, I’m going to talk about what I think has happened here, and how to navigate the situation in a reasonable way. 

Quick recap for anyone blissfully unaware: from what I understand, this post (migrated over from a presumably bigger twitter thread) has got a lot of people very worried about Warriors being a racist and appropriative series, and now are trying to figure out what ethically to do about this revelation. The thing I found most interesting about this screenshotted conversation is that it makes a lot of bold claims, but misses some pretty surprising details (in my opinion). If you do look critically at what is being said, here’s a few things to notice--crucially, there are two people talking. 

Person 1 says that a lot of animal fantasy fiction + xenofiction (fiction about non-human/”other” beings, such as animals) is frequently built upon stereotypes of First Nations and Indigenous people, and/or appropriates elements of Indigenous culture and tradition as basically set dressing for “strange” and “alien” races/species etc., and this is a racist, deeply othering, and inappropriate practice. This person is right. 

I’ve spent years researching in this field specifically, so I feel pretty confident in vouching (for whatever that’s worth) that this person is absolutely right in making this point. Not only is it frequently in animal fiction/xenofiction, but it’s insidious, which means often it’s hard to notice when it’s happening--unless you know what you’re looking for, or you are personally familiar with the details or tropes that are being appropriated. Because of the nature of racism, white and other non-First Nations people don’t always recognise this trend within texts--even texts they’re creating--but it’s important for us all, and especially white people, to be more aware, because it’s not actually First Nations’ people’s responsibility to be the sole critics of this tradition of theft and misuse. Appropriation by non-Indigenous people is in fact the problem, which means non-Indigenous people learning and changing is the solution. 

Person 1 offers Warriors as a popular example of a work that has this problem. Notably, this person hasn’t given an example of how Warriors is culpable (at least in this screenshot and I haven’t found the thread itself, because the screenshot is what’s causing this conversation), only that it’s an example of a work that has these problems. And once again, this person is correct. We’ll look at that more in a moment.

Person 2 (three tweets below the first) offers, by comparison, several more specious insights. Firstly, it’s really, really not the only time anyone’s ever talked about this, academically + creatively or in the Warriors fandom specifically, and so that reveals somewhat this person’s previous engagement in the space they’re talking into re: this topic. In other words, this person doesn’t know what has already been said or what is being talked about. Secondly, this person explicitly states that they “[don’t know] much about warrior cats specifically but from what I see it just screams appropriation,” which as a statement I think says something crucial re: the critical lens this person has applied + the amount of forethought and depth of analysis of their criticism of this particular series. 

I’m not saying that using twitter to talk about your personal feelings requires you to research everything you talk about before you shoot your mouth off. However, I personally don’t go into a conversation about a topic I don’t know anything about except a cursory glance to offer bold and scathing criticisms based on what it “just screams” to me. By their own admission, this person isn’t really offering good faith, thoughtful criticism of the series, in line with Person 1′s tweet. Instead, Person 2 is talking pretty condescendingly and emphatically about--as the kids say--the vibes they get from the series, and I’m afraid that just doesn’t hold up well in this court. 

So now that there’s Person 1 (i.e., very reasonable, important, interesting criticism) and Person 2 (i.e., impassioned but completely vibes-based opinion from someone who hasn’t read the books) separated, we can see there’s actually several things happening in this brief snapshot, and some of them aren’t super congruent with each other. 

Person 1 didn’t say “don’t read bad books,” or that you’re a bad person for being a fan of stories that are guilty of this. They suggested people should recognise the ways xenofiction uses Indigenous people and their culture inappropriately and often for profit. My understanding of this tweet is someone offering an insight that might not have occurred to many people, but that is valuable and important to consider going forward in how they view, engage with, and create xenofiction media.

Person 2 uses high modality, evocative language that appeals to the emotions. That’s not a criticism of this person: they’re allowed to talk in whatever tone they want, and to express their personal feelings and opinions. However, rhetorically, this person is using this specific language--consciously or subconsciously--to incense their audience--i.e., you. Are you feeling called to action? What action do you feel called to when you rea their words, despite the fact their claims are not based in their own actual analysis of or engagement with the text? It’s, by their own admission, not analysis at all. Everything they evoke is purely in the name of “not good” vibes. 

Earlier I mentioned that Person 1 is correct that Warriors is absolutely guilty of appropriation of First Nations and Indigenous people and culture. I also mentioned that they didn’t specify how. That’s because I think the most egregious example is in fact the tribe, which in many ways plays into the exact kind of stereotyping and appropriation of First Nations Americans that Person 1 mentions, and not the clans, contrary to Person 2′s suggestion. For instance, in addition to the very loaded name of “tribe”, there’s a lot of racist tropes present in how that group of cats is introduced and how the clan cats interact with them, as well as the more North American-inspired scenery of their home. It’s very blatant as far as racism in this series. 

When it comes to the clans themselves, though, I think it’s muddier and harder to draw clear distinctions of what is directly appropriative, what is coincidentally and superficially reminiscent, and what is not related at all. Part of this difficulty in drawing hard lines comes from the fact that, on a personal level, it actually doesn’t matter: if a First Nations person reads a story and feel it is appropriative or inappropriate, it’s not actually anyone’s place to “correct” them on their reading of the text. Our experiences are unique and informed by our perspectives and values, and no group of people are a monolith, which means within community, there will always be disagreement and differenting points of view. There is no one single truth or opinion, which means that First Nations people even in the same family might have very different feelings about the same text and very different perspectives on how respectful, or not, it might be. 

I’m saying this because something that gets said very often when conversations of racism and similar oppressive systems present/perpetuated in texts comes up, people frequently say: “listen to x voices.” It is excellent advice. However, the less pithy but equally valuable follow-up advice is: “listen to the voices of many people of x group, gather information and perspective, and then ultimately use your own judgement to make an informed opinion for yourself.” It means that you are responsible for you. The insight you can gain by listening to people who know topics and experiences far better than you do is truly invaluable, but if your approach to the world is simply to parrot the first voice, or loudest voice, or angriest voice you come across, you will not really learn anything or be able to develop your own understanding and you certainly won’t be making well-informed judgements. 

In other words, one incomplete tweet thread from two people who are each bringing quite different topics and modes of conversation (or perhaps gripes, in Person 2′s case) to the table is not really enough to go off re: making a decision to leave a fandom, in my opinion. In fact, I think in responding to anything difficult, complex, or problematic (which doesn’t mean what popular adage bandies it about to mean) by trying to distance yourself, or cleanse of it, will ultimately harm you and will not do you any good as a person. It is better, in my opinion, to enter into complex relationships with the world and media and other people in an informed, aware way and with a willingness to learn and sometimes to make mistakes and be wrong, rather than shy away from potential conflict or fear that interacting with a text will somehow taint you or define your morality in absolutes. 

So. Does Warriors have racist and appropriative elements, tropes, and issues in the series? Yes, of course it does, it’s a book-packaged series produced by corporation HarperCollins and written by a handful of white British women and their myriad ghostwriters. Racism is just one part of the picture. The books are frequently also ableist, sexist, and homophobic (or heteronormative, depending how you want to slice it, I guess), just to name some of the most evident problems. 

But does the presence of these issues mean it’s contaminated and shouldn’t be touched? Personally, I don’t think so. Given the nature of existing the world, it’s not possible to find perfect media that is free of any kind of bias, prejudice, or even just ideas or topics or concepts that are challenging or uncomfortable. I think it’s more meaningful to choose to engage with these elements, discuss them, criticise them, learn from them, and acknowledge also that imperfection is the ultimate destiny of all of us, especially creators.

I’m not saying that as a pass, like, “oh enjoy your media willy-nilly, nothing matters, do what you want, think about no-one else ever because we’re all flawed beings,” but rather that it’s important not to look away from the problems in the things we enjoy, rather than cut off all contact and enjoyment when we realise the problems. That doesn’t mean you have to only criticise and always be talking about how bad a thing you like is either, publicly admonishing yourself or the text, because that’s also not a constructive way to engage with media. 

As I said, there’s a lot to say here, and believe it or not, this is honestly the shortest version I could manage. There’s always more to say and plenty I haven’t talked about, but pretty much tl;dr: 

I don’t find Person 2′s commentary particularly compelling, personally, because I think it’s a little broad and a little specious in its conclusions and evidence, and I also suspect that this person is speaking more from their feelings than from a genuine desire to educate or meaningfully criticise, unlike Person 1. That’s not to say Warriors isn’t frequently racist and guilty of the issues Person 1 is discussing, because it is, but I don’t think this tweet thread is a great source of insight into the ongoing history of this problem in xenofiction, or Warriors specifically, on its own. I would recommend exploring further afield to learn more from a variety of sources and form your own opinions. I hope this helps. 

#just in case anyone sees this post and gets the wrong idea: i'm not inviting debate on this. #i am saying that first nations people are allowed to have ANY relationship with texts because that's how subjectivity works. #they are allowed to have negative neutral or positive experiences of texts--even 'bad' ones that have a lot of problems. #the people in this tweet are just talking about their thoughts and it's their bad luck the world's a public forum and it's spiralled. #the other thing i am saying is that if your approach to media is exclusively to cut out any problematic text like it's a cancer #that's not a great strategy. just straight up. you're better off developing critical insight and your own opinions and confidence. #by most parameters i can think of warriors as a series pretty much sucks really bad and i've been saying that for nearly ten years. #despite being so phenomenally flawed it can still have value--and much of its value in my opinion is IN these conversations about it. #so yeah tl;dr 2: i'm not here to slap-fight with teens which is what much discourse devolves to after 5 mins on tumblr so don't try it.

[magicpotatothoughts]

REVIEW | My thoughts on Welcome to the Ballroom

MENTIONS: Ballroom spoilers, Haikyuu spoilers, Attack on Titan spoilers, Skip Beat spoilers, Gender roles and gender stereotypes

After I finished Eizouken and was looking for something a little more energetic, I visited the Welcome to the Ballroom's page on Mal, and two things surprised me. 1) I didn't realise that it was shounen, the main picture had me thinking it was shoujo because of the art. 2) That it had quite a small fanbase but amongst those who have watched it, the response has been overwhelmingly positive. These two things piqued my curiosity so I decided to give this series a go. And I'm very glad that I did. PLOT AND CHARACTER I have actually been thinking about how I was gonna write this blog because there are so many aspects of this anime that I wanted to talk about. Also because character growth is so inherently tied to the development of the plot, these two components cannot be evaluated separately. I am firstly going to talk about everything that the anime does well and then move onto some things that I think the anime could improve on. A STUDY OF GENDER Ballroom is such an interesting series because it looks at how gender roles can be perceived, can operate and can be subverted within sports. This anime centres around a sport, competitive ballroom dancing, which visually enacts socially prescribed traditional gender roles where the male is the leader and the female is the follower. And I'm sure even without me further explaining what the leader and follower entails, certain auras, gestures or personality traits pop into mind due to preconceived societal-engrained notions of what leaders and followers look like. E.g. Leaders are strong, decisive while followers are flowy and expressive. 1) My first point of interest came from being introduced to our main character Tatara, who displays the exact opposite of what we consider traditionally masculine, or leader-like traits. He just started dancing, is fairly emotional (he cries several times in one episode sometimes), he is a huge empath therefore he is fantastic and responding to what others feel and need. Now this is brilliant character writing, where this core part of Tatara, becomes his greatest advantage but also his biggest challenge that he has to overcome. Because he's so used to, and being good at observing and responding, he loses a sense of drive and identity, qualities often expected from the role of a ballroom dancing leader. 2) My second point of interest is being introduced to our second main character Chinatsu, who become Tatara's official partner, from Episode 12 onwards of the series! (Can I just say, what a daring thing to do, to introduce a main character halfway through the series, it was done so brilliantly and purposely, the timing was immaculate for both herself and Tatara's growth), who also displays the exact opposite of what we consider traditionally feminine. She is stubborn, does what she wants, used to be a dancer but from the role of a leader but ultimately quit dancing because she couldn't get paired up due to her lack of feminine qualities that are often expected in the role of a ballroom dancing follower. 3) My Third point of interest how AMAZING this anime becomes when we place these characters with subversions of traditional gendered traits within the traditionally prescribed gender roles of ballroom dancing. This pairing of Tatara and Chinatsu was either going to be the worst or best for them because of how much they clash. And ultimately, this anime is about finding a balance between leading and responding as you would within a romantic relationship. The two clashed and clashed but they communicated, both verbally and through body language until they understood each other. And man, that's what makes the chemistry between those two go off the charts!

A quick recap of just how interesting and complex the theme of gender becomes between those two: A) Characters with subverted gender traits placed within traditional gender roles Chinatsu and Tatara has very different rhythm flowing through their body. Chinatsu is terrible at following because she used to be a leader and doing whatever she wants to shoulder the responsibility and overall performance in her previous dancing experience. C) Tomboy female tries adapt to her gendered role Chinatsu tries to change by trying to read Tatara to try and align herself with qualities expected of a follower but then realises she can't read Tatara at all D) Softboy male realises that his lack of 'certain' masculine traits as a leader means tomboy female must fuel all the psychological drive and momentum in the relationship Tatara realises that he hasn't been leading, he's been an empath this whole time responding to what his partner wants which makes himself incredibly hard to read. He thought he was making it easier for his partner by letting them do what they want but actually he was making it harder, because the lack of decisiveness and confidence in his actions makes it harder for Chinatsu to trust his cues and therefore open the floor of her to dance, making it harder for her to unleash her fullest potential. E) KIYO TAKES A HUGE GAMBLE TO LOOSEN TATARA'S MUSCLES F) Softboy male (oops) unexpectedly sends out 'masculine' bodily cues to tomboy female that challenges her dancing abilities Tatara can't control his muscles. Chinatsu is now given hard cues and drive that push her to reach her fullest physical potential as a dancer. G) Softboy male and Tomboy female BOTH find balance between leading and responding. Softboy male realises that decisiveness means to give your partner trust and confidence on the dancefloor, thus breaking away from his traditionally preconceived 'gendered' notion of decisiveness that is founded upon manipulating the movements of the female. Tatara is a great empath and responder, internalises Chinatsu's body as his own and is able to match up to her physical demands now that she's unlocked her fullest potential. Tatara redefines preconceived notions of what he thought of what a leader should look like and comes up with his own definition of the ballroom partnership. The older Kugimiya couple was a FANTASTIC FOIL to this. Kugimiya dances in the old-fashioned way that strongly adheres to traditional gender roles where he does manipulate the movements of his partner. H) Tomboy female realises redefines her preconceived gendered notion of follower where she previously believed it was weak and unfair to be following someone. Now together with her partner, she realises there is strength in placing trust in her partner. Chinatsu realises that she can now place her trust in Tatara because there is more confidence in his actions. The two create a revolutionary, modern approach to ballroom dancing that is founded upon equal communication, confidence and trust. This is just brilliant character writing. They are truly, for better or worse, in sickness and in health, Chinatsu and Tatara make each other grow in tremendous ways and I can't believe that all that happened in 12 episodes. THE BRILLIANCE IN REDEFINING THE MAIN CHARACTER'S CORE IDENTITY I think there is not doubt that when talking about a fantastic sports anime, I inevitably will bring up Haikyuu. One of the many reasons as to why Haikyuu is so brilliantly written plot and character-wise is because Haikyuu keeps true to each character's core identity AND allows the characters themselves to rediscover or redefine that core part of themselves. Let's take Kageyama, he is probably the clearest example:

an amazing volleyball player in middle school but deemed negatively as the 'king of the court' (CORE IDENTITY) because he was not a team player and looked down on his teammates for not being able to spike his sets.

learns from oikawa that he needs to be a team player. Practises hard to do the new drop spike that gives Hinata more options in the air. Practises hard to give better sets to bring out the strengths of his teammates.

Atsumu provokes Kageyama saying that he's playing it too safe by giving into his teammates flaws. Kageyama starts getting mad at his teammates again. He fears that he's reversing back to the old him.

Hinata encourages Kageyama to own being the 'king of the court' (REDEFINED CORE) again. BUT this time Kageyama is different, he is giving harder sets because he BELIEVES in his teammates, he is setting in a way that will challenge their physical abilities to play better. Previously he belittled his teammates, now he empowers them. YOU SEE, CLEAR DIFFERENCE HERE.

Ballroom in my opinion also does this brilliantly, and it is quite amazing that they manage to do it within a mere 24 episodes. I've gone into so much detail from ep12-24 so I'm gonna keep those brief.

finds ballroom dancing as his passion and immediately shows willingness to work hard, amazing skills in observation, empathy, emotional. Also secretly an attention seeker. Also always hoping to dance with Shizuku who he has a crush on. (CORE IDENTITY)

Because he has amazing observation skills, tends to randomly insert professional moves when he lacks the foundation to pull off those moves with the same great silhouette and physique.

Realises that he's been thinking too much about winning with his own amateur ability which is impossible and that ballroom dancing is a team sport. Decides to become the best frame possible and read Maki's mind and allow Maki to shine on the dance floor instead of himself during the Tenpai Cup arc. Also realises that he has been shadowing with Shizuku's figure in mind, decides to really look at who is in front of him, which is Mako.

Realises that he is now hiding behind his brilliance in reading his partner's mind, now making his bodily cues harder to read for Chinatsu. Realises he needs to be confident in his movements so that Chinatsu can trust him allow him as an empath to embody Chinatsu's rhythm based on trust and confidence (illustrated by the four legged creature). Realises this new way of ballroom dancing is what works for him, enjoys the spotlight once again. (REDEFINED CORE).

The core essence of the character becomes that much more brilliant because for the audience, you can see just how far they've come in their emotional and psychological growth. I also really liked the treatment of side characters within the show and how they involve along with the main characters. I really liked the backstory of Akira and Chinatsu, and made me feel really sorry for Akira that this whole time, she romantically liked Chinatsu and wanted her attention. Gaju and Mako, the siblings, had also interesting backstories and through the experience of the Tenpei cup, Mako understood what her older brother meant in terms of her lacking confidence, Gaju understood that he probably didn't allow her the space to 'bloom' (I don't know why this term makes me feel so icky). It was really nice to see that everyone had some sort of transformation. Ok now onto things that could have been improved upon: -the pacing at some points felt off. Tatara's initial magnetism towards ballroom dancing felt rushed. The whole grand prix cup episode was just second hand embarrassment for Tatara, personally I didn't feel like it did much for the plot other than to make an excuse as to why they can join the A Rank match and the 4 legs illusion, I don't know if the studio included that to stay true to the manga....Some moments I felt like that were more pivotal than others could have been spent a little more time on as well. I don't know if the studio was trying to fit a certain amount of manga chapters into a set 24 episodes that could have resulted in the pacing feeling off in some places. It definitely got better as the series went on from maybe towards episode 17 onwards. - Over the years, I've learnt to accept some fanservice here and there in shounen anime because I understand that as part of their authentic characterisation, teenage boys are gonna be thinking about boobs and stuff. But I feel like sometimes in Ballroom, the fan-service moments were a bit excessive, especially when some supposedly humorous moments are bordering on sexual harassment. Literally from Episode 17 onwards when it was mostly just focused on the plot and characters as the competition got more intense, I started to enjoy the show a lot more. - Kugimiya I know was a character to personify the traditional values within ballroom dancing but I frankly just didn't care enough about this character. There wasn't much about him when he was first introduced that made me especially like or hate him so when there was that backstory feature on him in the last few episodes, I frankly couldn't care less. - I wished there were more scenes towards the beginning of the anime that explained all the different dance moves like oversway, whisk etc. There were some explanations but I wished there explaining at the beginning so that more show-not-tell could be done later on in the show. Sometimes when an inner monologue is pointing these technical dance terms, it disrupts my focus on the actual dancing on screen. -This isn't exactly criticism but more of a question but there wasn't a lot of backstory or reason as to why after watching one video, Tatara then had the drive to pull and all-nighter to practise the box. I mean, sure there doesn't need to be a reason for someone to suddenly like something, I know plenty of stories where someone watched a youtube video and decided to change careers or I guess it could be argued he watched it because he wanted to become more traditionally 'masculine' like Sengoku only later to really love dancing and discover his own idea of what being a leader or being masculine means. I guess personally I'm just really drawn to stories such as Skip beat! where there is a clearer intent as to why someone like Kyoko is driven into acting for the purpose of revenge and that's where her strong drive is coming from. Also another guess is that there was a small small hint that in the last episode, Tatara's mum left him and his family when he was very young so the strong drive may have come from a sense of abandonment from his mother, therefore he feels

validated by attention when he's dancing. I wish they did perhaps delve a bit more into that rather than just give a split second picture of his mother walking out the door. But I'm just speculating though.... SOUND I liked the second OP and ED marginally better than the first OP and ED but both sets I believe fitted the themes and auras of their respective anime arcs well. I didn't think music was a particular stand out in this anime but I think it did serve its purpose, there was perhaps one ost where Tatara and Mako first danced on the playground that was a truly beautiful track. Voice acting is pretty good. The moment I heard Kiyo's voice, I knew it was Okamoto Nobuhiko haha. ANIMATION Animation was really interesting in this anime. There was a lot of criticism, from what I saw on youtube, that the body proportions of the characters, especially their long necks, looked off, and at first I also thought so but then I got used to it. I then watched some youtube videos of actual ballroom dancing competitions and the animation proportions are actually fairly accurate. Dancer bodies are very defined with very specific silhouettes, so I actually commend the studio on getting that part right. It's kind of fascinating, in certain scenes mid-dancing, the animations uses classic shounen action anime style drawings to illustrate concepts, such as in the moment of when Tatara experiences 'four-leg' illusion or when a character feels their leg cramping. In some parts, I felt like "hey am I watching Attack on Titan?" I don't really know how I feel about it because the artstyles between the dancing on those moments are quite contrasting. But I think it was interesting that the studio experimented with that.

There were some incredible moments of illustration, all the muscles of the dancers, the female's outfits, the moment where Tatara and Chinatsu figured out their rhythm as a couple, that was truly beautifully illustrated.

Tatara's character design and Shizuku's character designs were a bit too plain in my opinion but I wonder if this is a chicken and egg situation where if I watched Ballroom first, I would have found Haikyuu's Hinata an orange version of Tatara and did Shizuku become a volleyball manager? hahah. As someone who works and enjoys the arts, I would have loved if they showed a whole dance from start to finish without slow motion or monologues. Some of the dances felt a bit too short and in 10 seconds it was all over. Of course, it would require so much effort to animate an entire dance but I would happily watch it. I think it was a missed opportunity and if Ballroom ever gets a second season, I really hope that the studio takes this into account. The second OP and ED animations were done beautifully to set-up Tatara and Chinatsu's chemistry. The moment I saw that second OP, I was excited to get to know Chinatsu and her effect on Tatara. Overall, what a hidden gem of an anime, I'm so surprised that it has such a small fanbase. I heard that the mangaka has been constantly on hiatus due to health issues. But I do hope that Tatara and Chinatsu becomes canon!

Rating: 🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔🥔/10

#ballroom e youkoso #tatara #skip beat #haikyuu!! #analysis #gender study #gender roles #gender stereotypes #ballroom #attack on titan #welcome to the ballroom #chinatsu

[kitkatopinions]

One thing that Annoys me about RWBY is that Summer Rose could have been a really interesting character of they bothered to develop her at all.

She's a dead mom trope, but she's also a dead dad trope, and I think it would have been really cool if they had a flashback episode all about her.

I remember my mom and a friend talking about how a woman's hero's journey is different than a man's hero's journey because if that woman has kids there's this extra guilt, and I think it would have been really cool to see Summer as this woman who loves her monster fighting job, but also loves her family and feels guilty over leaving them to do it. And then when she dies doing what she loves, but not being with the people she loves, then it would be extra sad and tragic.

Summer Rose is not a person in the story, but she had so much potential to be one. And if the audience cared about her as much as Ruby and Yang do, then their grief over her would hit harder for the audience.

Just I thought I had this morning and wanted to share. Love your blog!

Hey, thanks for this ask! Summer could've been really well utilized and then this "is Summer alive/is Summer a Grimm/Ruby cries about Summer a lot" stuff wouldn't feel out of left field, forced, and so freaking boring. XD Ruby's reactions as a person technically makes sense, because emotions are complicated and childhood trauma tends to leave really lasting effects even if you're too young to fully remember the event itself, but as an audience member, Summer has been little more than an infrequently used plot device at best, and an infrequently used means to set up more important plots at worst.

The only instances we had of Summer content prior to volume seven that I can remember are:

1. Ruby stands in front of Summer's grave in the red trailer and we see Summer with her hood up during the first season opening theme song, which is literally just a reference to the red trailer. 2. Yang talks about Summer's death to Blake as an opener to the conversation about her searching out Raven and comparing it to Blake's problems with self-destructing due to the problems with Torchwick and the White Fang. 3. Ruby talks to Summer's grave at the start of volume three, doing a minor and quick recap seemingly for the audience's sake as well as once again seeming to be a reference to the Red trailer (which would make sense considering that people weren't sure that RWBY was going to come back after season 2.) 4. Yang references Summer's death again while talking about how her family is broken and Blake leaving her triggered old abandonment issues.

That is literally all that I can remember that was established about Summer Rose prior to volume seven when Ruby wants to have heart to hearts about her with Qrow and falls apart crying when Salem mentions her, and then we're introduced to this big question about what happened to her and maybe she's a Grimm and Ruby and Yang have to deal with the horror of that thought and... Yeah, it makes sense for the characters, but why did it take seven seasons for them to remember that this was supposed to be a big deal that mattered to the audience? Did they just assume that the fans would do the work for them of making Summer matter to us? There'd be nothing wrong with the early use of Summer if there wasn't this as of yet completely unneeded big deal made of her in volumes seven and eight. There's a long history of dead parents in media who are dead because the writers just don't want to deal with that or just want to add character to their... Characters. Yang is a more interesting character when you add 'mother's death impacted her' and 'feels like she needed to mother Ruby' to it. Now they only have one parent to contend with when Ruby goes off on her quest, so on and so forth.

But with the way that they want us to care about Summer now, they should've made her at least slightly more established. Like, they could’ve had it established anywhere that either Yang or Ruby want to be Hunters because of their connection to their mom. They could’ve had Ruby talk about being a hero like her mom was a couple of times or how she wants to protect people so families don’t get broken the way that her family was. Yang’s abandonment issues could’ve had Summer featured just as much as Raven and maybe could’ve involved her not wanting Ruby to be a hunter due to the inherent danger involved after or even before they realized Ruby has Silver Eyes. When Qrow tells Ruby about magic and Ozpin and Salem, Ruby could’ve asked him about whether or not Summer was a part of the circle with him and knew about all this magic stuff. Ruby could then tell Yang about whatever answer Qrow gives when she arrives. This could lead to a larger tension where either Ruby and Yang have to grapple with how much their parents and guardians didn’t tell them and how clearly dangerous it is to be involved in Ozpin’s inner circle, or they have to grapple with the fact that Summer didn’t know and wasn’t told despite her Silver Eyes having put her at a stronger risk. Before Yang reconnects with the main group, she and Raven could talk about Summer in the Branwen camp, with Raven making bitter comments about how quickly she was replaced by Summer and Yang confronting Raven with the fact that she forfeited her right to being Yang’s mother and how that role was filled by Summer, and it could be a whole thing. Qrow could’ve worked with Ruby on activating her Silver Eyed Warrior powers throughout some of volume five and throughout volume six by talking about having seen Summer use them, having heard Summer talk about them, and knowing how they work through her.

Then, when Ruby is having conversations about Summer with Qrow in volume seven and breaking down in tears at the realization that she fought Salem and crying at the horror of the possibility that she’s a Grimm and it’s this huge big deal, we would be more connected to Summer, we would feel more sympathy for Ruby and Yang in this situation because we would’ve had seasons of seeing the way they’re affected by Summer having been dead this whole time.

As it stands, we’re getting Katara going after the man who killed her mother with only a couple random references to Kya’s death prior and no emotional investment, no scene where Sokka talks about how he can’t even remember his mother’s face or Katara freaking out about losing the necklace that connects her to her mother or it being one of the things that continues to drive Katara throughout the whole show, something she talked about with Jet and Zuko, something she used to relate to Aang’s suffering at losing his people, etc.

We’re getting an emotionless delivery. A random new thing to focus on in two seasons overflowing with far too many badly done arcs and conflicts. Something that seems less established and important than even Emerald’s badly done and rushed redemption arc. It might make sense for the characters to have been detached at least somewhat from Summer after years and yet have these big emotional reactions when their trauma is brought to the front of their minds. But as an audience member... They didn’t manage to make me care about Summer or even how Ruby and Yang feel about her, point blank period. Like usual in RWBY, it’s too little, too late. And I’d much rather they stop trying to add things in the later seasons that they should’ve been doing work to establish for the past several seasons, and focus on actually making the stuff they already have in the story better, like idk, the relationship between Ruby and Qrow, or Maria and Ruby, or any number of things. RWBY is a quantity over quality show, and Summer Rose is just another thing that suffers from it.

#rwde #anti rwby #rwby criticism #rwby critical #canoncrit summer rose #I guess #never thought I'd use that tag but uh... Yeah

[evansyhelp]

✧ UPLOADING GIF PACKS USING ONLY TUMBLR   —   A TUTORIAL.

In this tutorial, I’ll be showing you how I upload my gif/icon packs, and how I get rid of the coding that forces the gifs onto separate lines, without using any third-party websites. Please like or reblog if you find this helpful!

STEP ONE.

Upload your gifs into a text post. How many you can upload at once will depend on the quality of your internet connection. I prefer to upload in batches of 10-ish as I make them because my network adapter is busted, but with a decent connection you can easily upload 50+ in one post. There’ll be three little dots in the top right of the post as the gifs load up. It can take a while when there’s a lot of gifs, just give it a minute. 

STEP TWO.

Once the dots disappear, save the post as a draft. It might seem like you can skip saving the post and just jump into step three, but saving it is essential. If you don’t, the gifs will disappear from your gif page within a day or two. Save the post as a draft.

STEP THREE.

Click the edit symbol on the draft. Then click the cogwheel in the top right. At the bottom of the pop-up is the Text Editor drop-down menu. Select ‘Markdown’, and then immediately go back and select ‘HTML.’ 

Going to Markdown first strips away the <figure> HTML, which is what forces all the gifs onto separate lines. You’ll be left with just the <img> HTML, like so:

STEP FOUR.

Copy the HTML, and open up your gif page. If you just want them to show on your usual blog theme, click ‘HTML’ and paste the gifs there. If you want to use a custom page theme, click the Layout drop-down menu at the top and select ‘Custom Layout’, paste the theme you want to use into it, and then paste the gifs into the space the code tells you to. Repeat as necessary until your entire gif pack is uploaded to the page.

Remember to give the page its own URL, and hit save. That’s all there is to it. You can delete the drafted post afterwards. No third-party websites needed for image-hosting or tag-stripping.

QUICK RECAP.

Upload gifs in a text post.

Save post as draft.

Edit draft > Cogwheel.

Text Editor: Markdown.

Text Editor: HTML.

Copy and paste into page.

Sleep easy knowing your gifs are safe.

If you found this tutorial helpful, please remember to like or reblog this post, and consider supporting me on Ko-fi (link in sidebar). I offer exclusive rewards to everyone who donates. Thanks for reading!

#gif pack #gif icons #rp icons #rph #rpc #rpcha #rp resources #eh #eh: tutorial #tutorial #tumblr help #rph help #gifs #*100

[firstagent]

Recap! Digimon Adventure: (2020): Ending

In this episode, we wrap up a reboot with so much style and so little substance, then talk about the future because, unlike the Adventure: children, we are mortal beings. As doing so during a currently running series defeated the intention of allowing us a breather, we’ve been slacking off on the catch-up posts that used to happen around every ending change. There wasn’t much to say anyway. By the time the second ending theme ran its course, we’d sniffed out the fatal flaws of the Adventure reboot. A lack of quality wasn’t the issue. Digimon has had plenty of subpar material over the course of twenty-plus years. You can even argue there’s plenty of quality in Adventure:, just invested in places we’re not used to in Digimon, ones that don’t add much besides another shiny, empty thing to gaze at for a few seconds. But as we gaze one more time, we realize the real killer was the lack of anything compelling to think about. Which is a real problem since that’s primarily what we do here. Back in episode four, even as we were enjoying the hell out of Action Girl Sora’s rebirth, her instant rapport with Piyomon stood in such stark contrast with original Sora’s early reticence that we wondered where the angst was going to come from. It was the first clue that the mother issues that defined her character twenty years ago would be scrubbed and abandoned, leaving… well, Action Girl Sora and nothing else of consequence. Other signs, like the way too early debut of Omegamon and the minimal development involved with the first couple rounds of evolution foretold a show that was going to be light on the one thing Digimon Adventure excelled at: endearing characters working through genuine problems making them seem like real people. The longer the series went, the more that concept felt abandoned, and the harder it was to root for these cardboard cutouts of the Adventure kids. The result is a series chock full of exciting action sequences, a serviceable enough plot, and not a lot of thought behind it. It spends most of the first half as an intense, relentless, exhausting escalation of battles… then takes its foot off the gas in the second half to meander its way through two arcs where nothing of consequence happens outside the climactic fights. You’re likely to get smoother pacing watching every episode on shuffle. Worse, within these two extremes is a shocking dearth of meaningful message to discuss. Digimon isn’t worth all this blog space because it stands above other shows like it, but rather because its depths give us so much to talk about regarding childhood, technology, relationships, evil, loss… nothing of the sort gets any thought here. A few interesting concepts sneak in through Patamon, Tailmon, and even Negamon towards the end, but nothing explored to its full potential. We’re left with precious little to sift through except pondering how empty the series feels compared to everything else Digimon has offered us. The next series, Digimon Ghost Game, already shows signs of promise. In just their introductory bios, the three leads offer up more character, family background, and flaws than the entire Adventure: octet gave us in sixty-seven episodes. Given the ratings the reboot pulled, it was easy to fear that the future of Digimon would be the same hollow action fests. So far Ghost Game appears to be resisting the temptation, and deserves discussion. Unfortunately, for several reasons, it won’t be here. The window between Saturday night episodes and Monday morning posts is becoming too much of a burden, especially with a five year old that actually likes to do things on weekends. I’ll still post my thoughts on Twitter and maybe even quick reactions on Tumblr the way I did for Appmon’s initial run. Like Appmon, I may even come back for full retrospective Ghost Game posts. The blog was always meant to be retrospective after all. So for now, we close up shop after a hell of a ten years. Our mission of writing something for the six seasons of Digimon kept getting extended as the franchise reinvigorated itself and kept on going, a testament to the endearing nature of the show that made us write about it in the first place. Thanks to everyone who helped out through Patreon, Ko-Fi, or Amazon, or even for leaving a comment, especially in the early days when Digimon was still on the verge of regaining its momentum. You can still catch me on Twitter and Tumblr, along with the With the Will podcast (I’ll also be discussing the final episode on Podigious in a few days!). And Nexusworld is all finished now so you have two novel-length adventures of multi-season madness! Twitter will be the best place to catch news of any future endeavors, whether Digimon or not. Until then, enjoy Ghost Game! Digimon Adventure: Ending 5: Dreamers Figure I slack off on talking about the ending themes in the season with the best ones (that third one is so cute!). This one’s a little generic, but it’s boppy and fits Digimon so well. The endings are nice in that they’re a little less Taichi-centric than the opening or the show itself, and only the first one tries to elevate a character the series doesn’t justify elevating. Dreamers is one those songs that makes me realize I should listen to K-Pop more.

See reviews of every Digimon episode at Digimon: System Restore!

#digimon #digimon adventure: #digimon adventure (2020)

[ninjago-bingo]

midmonth recap!

holy cow, everyone!  we’re officially (only!!) at the two week-mark of the bingo, and the stuff we’ve already seen so far has been incredible!

as a recap, we have:

21 official participants

5 submitted works

6 warm edition creators

2 sparks edition creators

3 twixt edition creators

and 6 sprout edition creators!

does that make anyone else excited?  I know I sure am!

because it gets hard wading through a blog to find all the creations, here’s a quick collection of summaries + links to them all below the cut!  or check out the #ninbingo works to scroll through :D

art: (low res; click on the link to go to the original post)

Lloyd + trauma by @rinas-ninjas.

@ninjago-bingo’s theme is Found Family…

…so even trauma loses a bit of its sting. :)

(mod comments: the expressions hurt me ;;)

Photos by @crystal-kesseki.

First bord photos (its in Coles phone)

(mod comments: a good lad!  his piercings are a+)

fics:

And the Walls Kept Tumbling Down by @rosiehunterwolf.  tumblr || ffn.net || prompt: trust + breakdown

Pixal has been Samurai X for awhile, now- a role that allows her to be herself, to be happy. But it’s also... incredibly lonely. Luckily, she’s not the only one alone- Lloyd has been left in the city while his friends go after Master Wu, and his presence is comforting. But as they struggle with a mysterious biker gang, Pixal can’t help feeling the want to be part of something more.

(mod comments: Pixal pov is always a win :D  I like how this one plays with canon!)

let the wild rumpus start by @21st-century-ninja.  tumblr || ao3 || prompt: monster

Long ago, monsters roamed the earth.  Nowadays, their descendants do.

Lloyd Garmadon is the token human friend in a group of 5 other young adults, each one with creature blood flowing through their veins. Tonight, it’s game night at the Smith siblings’ apartment. And if he keeps his beanie on the whole time, and hides himself in his giant, oversized hoodie, well that’s just his choice, now isn’t it?

(mod comments: someone give this kid a hug, like, in general)

realization by @chaoscat211​.  tumblr || prompt: realization

anonymous asked: what about realization for the bingo?

chaoscat211 replied: Sure thing! Also sorry this is so late I was too busy procrastinating revision for end of year exams :)

Spoilers for s15!

(mod comments: the kai angst... mmm.  delicious.  seeing as it’s ns15 spoilers, I’m sure you can guess >:D)

upgrades by @master-of-fluff.  tumblr || ao3 || prompt: upgrade

for the nin-bingo challenge thats happening on tumblr prompt: upgrades

(mod comments: kai is the team’s big bro 100% confirmed. I always enjoy seeing him and zane together; they’re more similar than they might first appear.)

one final note: for this share, and after getting some feedback from all of you, I went ahead and cropped the art into previews.  If you would not like me to do that to yours, just send me a pm!

I’m looking forward to all the amazing stuff I know that’s coming!

#update #recap

[sz-amare]

7. My Top 15 Anime List

I have watched a lot of anime in the past four years, but one thing that gives me great enjoyment is ranking my top anime. Here I will rank my top 15 favorite anime, along with some honorable mentions that couldn’t make it. However, I won’t be going too in-depth on the analyses; I just want to give you a general idea of why the particular anime is where it is on my list. In general, I rank my anime depending on a combination of factors: 1) how brilliant I find the anime to be written, 2) if the themes resonate with me, 3) if it is categorized in my favorite genres, and 4) my general enjoyment level. Anyway, to the list.

 Number 15

One Punch Man

When I first watched One Punch Man, it seemed nothing more than a mindless comedy anime. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed it and laughed a lot, but I found it to be forgettable. But one day, I heard that the genre of One Punch Man was seinen, which made no sense to me. It had no dark and mature themes, and as I mentioned, it was nothing more than a senseless comedy. But then one day, on a whim, I watched One Punch Man again. And I REALLY enjoyed it. I still laughed a lot, but something felt different to me this time. I actually felt like I had a deep connection with each of the characters. The story seemed to be more structured and enjoyable this time, and finally, I could actually see the themes that One Punch Man was trying to explore. It made sudden sense to me that One Punch Man is indeed a seinen and that it had a lot more to it than on the surface. Of course, the difference in experience is because of my new understanding of anime and the experience I gained.

Number 14

Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple

Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple is probably one of the most unknown, underappreciated, and underrated anime on this list. Someone recommended it to me, and I had never heard of it, so I assumed it was a mediocre anime. But when I watched it, I had so much fun which I hadn’t felt in many months. It is a training shōnen anime where the main character tries to learn martial arts. That is all I want to say for now because I don’t want to spoil anything, so go watch it. I highly recommend it.

Number 13

A Place Further than the Universe

I don’t see many people talking much about A Place Further than the Universe. But, I must say, it is absolutely phenomenal. It is, hands down, the most inspiring anime in existence. The basic premise is a high school girl wanting to do something significant in her high school life. I won’t say anymore because, again, I don’t want to spoil this anime, and I recommend you check it out if you need inspiration in your life. Let me just say that it is now an aspiring goal of mine to visit Antarctica.

Number 12

Plastic Memories

I made a whole analysis on the previous post so go check it out. But for a quick recap, the life lesson I learned from Plastic Memories has permanently changed my behavior for the better. I found it to be the saddest anime I have ever watched.

 Number 11

Steins; Gate

Once again, I have already made an analysis on Steins; Gate, but this time I only covered the first episode. I also ranked Steins; Gate a 10/10 so that must mean that the rest of this list must contain masterpieces. But to be honest, that is not really the case. You see, to me, even if I consider something a masterpiece, the enjoyment factor plays the most significant role in ranking high on my list. For example, I found Death Note to be brilliant, but I really struggled to enjoy it and therefore, it is not ranked that highly. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoyed Steins; Gate, but I just enjoyed the rest of these anime way more. Anyway, if you want to see why I loved Steins; Gate so much and why I find it so brilliant, check out blog post 4.

Number 10

Berserk (Manga)

Almost everything I found In Berserk is brilliant (except its adaptations, that’s gas station toilet). Guts is a 10/10 protagonist, Griffith is a 10/10 antagonist, the cast is a 10/10, the story is a 10/10, AND THE ART!!! Holy shit!!! I can actually picture an entire museum dedicated to each panel of Berserk.

 Again, the only reason this anime is not any higher is simply because I enjoyed the others on this list so much more. However, I am yet to review any analyses on it so there is a possibility that it will bump-up several places higher when I truly understand the brilliance behind it. Great read though!

Number 9

Haikyuu

I LOVE Haikyuu. Each season gets progressively better and better. It has a lot of controversy around it because of its fan base and because it’s a sports anime. But to be honest, I find Haikyuu to be a better shōnen than My Hero Academia, Black Clover, Jujutsu Kaisen, Demon Slayer, and most other modern shōnen anime. It has its amazing moments, its cast is amazing, the character development is amazing, the themes are amazing, and the antagonists are amazing. I am not bluffing when I say that the antagonists in a Volleyball anime are better than the antagonists in many shōnen anime (I’m going to develop haters before I can even develop fans). I plan on making an essay on what most shōnen strive for yet fail to achieve, and Haikyuu somehow delivers.

Number 8

Oregairu

Best romance. Hands down. Oregairu, or SNAFU, or My Teen Rom-Com is Not What I Expected (yes, so many titles) is a masterpiece in its own right. If you are a guy and you watched Oregairu, don’t act like you didn’t imitate Hachiman a couple times. He is a beautiful protagonist, which most of us guys relate to. His inner monologues result in us treating them as gospel. The sub-text is confusing as fuck, but end up making sense in all sorts of ways once decoded. Yukino is best girl, but man I love Yuigahama almost just as much. The general enjoyment I got out of Oregairu is so far through the roof that I once forced myself to stop watching it so that I could savor the show a little more. It is a little difficult to get into at first, but you will most likely end up enjoying it.

Number 7

Re Zero

This is the most recent addition to the list. I often don’t add anything new to my list; I just switch the places between some of them. But ever since season 2, Re Zero jumped significantly in rank. It is the best anime of 2020 (including sequels), and I enjoyed each episode to the max. I was considering adding Re Zero to my top 10 since the first half of the second season finished, but I was a bit hesitant because I am easily affected by recency bias. But my love for Re Zero would just not die down: my love for it grows after each episode airs. It is the only anime on this list that I watched weekly other than One Piece. I actually prefer watching a series I love weekly rather than binging it all, except for One Piece, pacing is constipation (slow and painful). Other than the vast enjoyment I got out of Re Zero, the main reason it made it to this list is because of the light novel comparisons I watch. Aninews is my favorite source. He compares the episode to the light novels, mentioning what was left out and further describing the emotions and thoughts of the characters. He tends to release the “Cut Content” videos a week after the episode airs, but the content and quality are incomparable. I found the videos to be so amazing I am basically just as excited for the weekly videos as the Re Zero episodes themselves. If you love Re Zero, the Cut Content series is a must watch.

The fantastic details and emotions the light novels are able to portray are stunning. I decided to read the light novels recently, but the only issue is that I am very short on time. But for each novel I complete, I will release a post on it.

Number 6

Mob Psycho

Although I said I found Haikyuu to be better than most modern shōnen, Mob Psycho is hands down the king. Its quality far surpasses all modern shōnen and a lot of older generation shōnen too. Funny thing is, I believe Mob Psycho’s primary genre is slice of life, not shōnen. I also believe it to be the best take on an overpowered protagonist. One of my favorite things is that Mob, who is the strongest esper we have seen, seems to be so weak. That is exactly how he should be portrayed; he is still a child with mental challenges that he is constantly trying to overcome. The themes that Mob Psycho explores are some of my favorites. The animation is a bit weird at first, but after watching it, you suddenly realize how brilliant it is.

(Honorable Mentions)

Attack on Titan

I am going to get a lot of hate for not including this in my top 5, let alone my top 15. Attack on Titan is still releasing episodes, so that opinion may change soon but let me be clear about one thing: Attack on Titan is a masterpiece. It is absolute greatness. The hype and enjoyment I get out of Attack on Titan are out of this world. But, a) the enjoyment feels a bit short-lived for me personally. It is a fantastic week after airing, but I tend to forget about it the next. b) Attack on Titan is simply not my type of show. Again, I do love Attack on Titan. Again, it is a masterpiece. And again, it may bump up a bit after a few episodes release, but as of now, Attack on Titan isn’t in my top 15.

(Honorable Mentions)

No Game No Life

Similar to One Punch Man, I thought No Game No Life was an anime for senseless fun and enjoyment. But then I watched the movie. The movie is canon to the light novels, but it is irrelevant to the plot and only contributes to the understanding of the world. However, since I watched that movie, I felt the world of No Game No Life to be more realistic. Of course, a world where games resolve all sorts of conflicts like war is ridiculous. But after watching the movie, that ridiculousness somehow turned to reality. The world of No Game No Life became fascinating to me, and what seemed like dumb games began to turn into political machinations.

(Honorable Mention)

Magi & Yona of the Dawn

All I have to say about these two anime is that they seemed to be very fascinating premises and concepts, but the anime sadly stops for both. I am considering reading the manga for both of them sometime soon, so this list may change once I do.

Number 5

Hunter x Hunter

If you like shōnen, I don’t see why you would hate Hiatus x Hai—I mean Hunter x Hunter. The only thing it slightly lacks is a strong main cast, which many people like anyway. Otherwise, absolute perfection. They have most of the best villains in all of anime: Hisoka, Chrollo, Meruem… How can you not love Meruem? And the way he parallels with Gon but in the opposite direction: just perfection. The arcs are hard to rank because they are all perfection in their own right. The best power system in anime is nothing short but perfection. If it weren’t for the Hiatus, it would be ranked fourth. I doubt it would scratch my top three.

Number 4

Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood

I know I kept saying perfection when talking about Hunter x Hunter, but I actually believe that Full Metal Alchemist: Brotherhood is the perfect series (Note: I am not saying that no one can love it and that it has to be your #1; obviously there are preferences. I’m merely saying that it perfectly crafts what it is trying to portray). The only two arguments you can bring is that the beginning is weak. But if you watch the 03 version, there are no issues whatsoever, in my eyes. Keep in mind, when I say it is the best, I mean from a narrative standpoint. Yes, the animation isn’t the greatest, and the gags are kind of bad, but from a general narrative standpoint, it is the best writing I have ever seen. The plot was brilliant and well-crafted. The world is beautifully bound by their power system: alchemy. The philosophical discussions and themes it explores always have you thinking. The characters are very likable and are all top tier characters. The mysteries keep you in a cycle of confusion and excitement. Since I love science and chemistry, alchemy was so fascinating to me. This show is definitely well-deserving of the number one rank in My Anime List.

Number 3

Kill la Kill

After listing a lot of the best anime/manga with the best stories and narratives, I can see why someone would be upset that I brought up Kill la Kill. This one is certainly the odd one out. However, remember me mentioning that the enjoyment factor is the biggest decision maker in my list placement? Kill la Kill gave me the most enjoyment out of all the anime on this list, even more significant than the obvious #1. I didn’t find anything to be all that brilliant in Kill la Kill, and I can completely understand if someone hated this particular show. But there was something about Kill la Kill that made me feel nostalgic in a weird way. It also gave me one of the weirdest yet most immense feeling of satisfaction I have ever felt. I love Kill la Kill.

Number 2

Konosuba

           Okay yeah, this one is also the odd one out, but it is a little more acceptable. I find Konosuba to be the best comedy anime of all time. Not necessarily because it is the funniest anime (I think it is the funniest but comedy is subjective), but instead because, unlike most comedies, like Nichijo, the characters in Konosuba are absolutely brilliant. Kazuma is one of my favorite characters of all time, Megumi is best girl, but I still love both Darkness and Aqua. Their interactions are absolutely entertaining on both a comedic scale and a general enjoyment scale. Their assholeish-type relationship reflects my relationship with my friends (we are complete assholes to each other, but we also love one another).

Not only that but from the comedy focused anime that I have watched, the plot in this one is actually delightful. The Konosuba movie is my favorite movie of all time, right after A Silent Voice.

Number 1

One Piece

If you read a couple of my previous posts or recognized my profile picture, you probably knew that One Piece is my favorite anime of all time. My love for One Piece is so extensive that I would rather forget all my experiences with anime than forget my experience with One Piece. One Piece inspired me and changed my life. Not in the typical way where I learned a life lesson from the story like Plastic Memories, but simply because I found the writing to be so brilliant. So it was more that Eiichiro Oda, the author of One Piece, inspired me. The characters are the best I have ever seen, the villains are well crafted, the world-building is literally the best in all of fiction, the build-up is fascinating, the questions from the mysteries somehow keep piling over, the symbolism fleshes out aspects of the anime even more, the backstories make characters more relatable and understandable, the general dynamic flow of the world feels like reality, the themes it explores are great learning experiences, the originality never ends, the hype moments keep you energetic for more, the foreshadowing is so phenomenal to the extent where it shouldn’t exist, and the general planning of the story makes it obvious how amazing of an author Eiichiro Oda is.

This series has been airing weekly for nearly 22 years now, the manga for 25. How in the world is Oda able to create this monster of a story, planning certain elements a decade or two in advance? This is brilliance. This is beauty in writing. And I want nothing more than to create a masterpiece of my own.

Final Notes

Emotional, I know. I believe my list here is a bit diverse in terms of genre: shōnen, seinen, romance, comedy, sports, slice-of-life, and mystery. I think it’s a great thing to widen your horizons a bit by exploring various types of genres. Anyway, there are many anime I haven’t watched that could easily replace and dethrone some of the anime on this list. I plan on watching and reading Hajime no Ippo, Gintama, Vagabond, Oyasumi Pun Pun, I”s, etc. I heard these anime/manga are considered the best for their respective genres by many people, and I will probably finish reading and watching these anime/manga in about six months. So I will make a top 15 anime list once again around that time.

If you have any questions or you want to discuss something, feel free to ask in the “Ask Me Anything” tab on my Tumblr page.

#anime #animelove #otaku #animeblogpost #animelist #manga #mangalove #onepunchman #history's strongest disciple kenichi #plasticmemories #a place further than the universe #steinsgate #berserk #haikyuu #orgairu #re zero #mob psycho 100 #attack on titan #no game no life #magi #yona of the dawn #hunterxhunter #fullmetal alchimist brotherhood #kill la kill #konosuba #one piece